This Independence Day, think a little..

You wake up. You bathe. You go breakfast. It sucks as usual. You go attend a few classes. You skip a few. It doesn't matter you think. you come back. You suggest lunch. You lunch together, all five of you. You come back. You have classes you don't go to. You go to sleep. You wake up. Somebody suggests dinner. You eat dinner together. You buy coke and chips for your nightly excursion to sitcom land. You joke about how India's doing poorly in the test series. Someone cracks a joke about Ajit Agarkar. You laugh, Agarkar's funny (Bombay Duck, ha!). You come back. You download a few episodes. You watch them while you munch on chips. you feel sleepy. You go to bed. You curse the lack of a curtain rod, light streams through your window. You hang a bedsheet on the window. You go to sleep. You wake up. You bathe. You breakfast. It sucks as usual.

All this while, a storm rages around you. People call for a Jail Bharo Andolan. People call it the second freedom struggle. And oblivious to all of this, you curse your breakfast and take people's case on shoutbox.

Look around you. Do you see wanton corruption, hunger and poverty? Not really. At least not in your immediate surroundings you don't. Maybe you should. Maybe everybody should. Maybe the first step in eradicating all social evils is that everybody deal with them all the time. Maybe if you were to live among filth, among people out for your blood, you'd do something about it. Maybe if you were to see what India really was like on the outside, you'd start thinking. Maybe if the Ambanis were to live in a colony where new born children died everyday for lack of nourishment, they'd rethink their plan for a new house. The Russians had a word you know, for sharing everything, good or bad. It made a lot of sense to a lot of people then.

You argue you're different. Hey, you 'liked' Anna Hazare on Facebook didn't you? You forwarded that mail to a million people. You even blogged about it. You go so far as to say you're going to donate 10% of your first salary someplace. You're modern you say. You condemn antiquated ideas and are progressive. You swear that you'll never say, 'Ladki Gori honi chahiye?' or, 'Aapko jo dena ho aap do, hum to bhayee kuch nahi maangte'. Or that you won't kill your unborn daughter in cold blood. You're doing what the nation needs you to do, aren't you? There you have me.

1.

His eyes were slowly getting accustomed to the dark. Not since the Great Blight ten years ago had such darkness crept into the valley. It had been slow at first, pretending to be harmless dark clouds that did nothing but obstruct sunlight. And then slowly night had set in, a night that was going to be eternal for all he knew. The Dark Ones had been clever this time. There was no escape, and he knew there'd be no mercy. It wasn't much use fighting either, you couldn't physically harm the Dark Ones. Each of them carried a stick of fire that glowed as bright as the sun used to. This helped him see them from afar, but he was never able to use this fact to his advantage. They always found him and then he'd get the stick...

Musings of a certain Exar Kun, 'Dark Lord of the Sith' emeritus.

Dear Diary,

Today I took a 8 month long hiatus from blogging. Oh wait, that wasn't today, that was over the past 8 months. And nobody cared and nothing's changed. Except the Miraluka can see now, and the dark side of the force gets stronger day after day...

Exar out.

The enigma that is Shoutbox.

You've gotten into the very elite and prestigious Shoutbox? Great. Here's how things work,

• TYPE IN CAPS FOR ONE, IT’S SHOUTBOX REMEMBER?
• ASK INTELLIGENT QUESTIONS AND FRAME THEM LIKE LITERAL TRANSLATIONS OF A KABIR DOHA, LIKE ‘HOW TO TURN OFF CAPS LOCK ON MY KEYBOARD THANK YOU GOD BLESS’
• Tag everybody in the aforementioned question; you never know who might be able to help.
• Use dots, a lot……. Use them all the time…..in all comments you make. Some…times…use..dots….between…individual…words…helps…people…focus…
• Use no nadda nil periods or other punctuation ever its a cool style anyway
• Repetition is key, say what you want to again and again. Repetition is key, say what you want to again and again. Repetition is key, say what you want to again and again. Repetition is key, say what you want to again and again. Repetition is key, say what you want to again and again.
• Missing enough attention? UsE UpPeRcAsE aNd LoWeRcAsE AlTeRnAtIvEly, AeStHiTiCaLlY AdViSaBlE.
• Remember the people who wished you a happy birthday on your wall? Think a little, they’re mostly people on Shoutbox right? Why not thank them there while you’re at it? Do it now.
• You know what people care about the most in the world? Their mothers. No, just kidding. It’s your opinion actually. Well thought out points of view like, ‘PS-1 suxxxxxxxxxxxxx’ are worth their weight in gold. Never give any reasons or logic but, nobody cares about that anyway.
• Expanding on the above point, always avoid logical conclusions. If asked why tell people you flunked Discrete Mathematics or didn’t take it, proof that you don’t have time to indulge in such niceties.
• Recommend good movies to people. What’s that? On shoutbox, yeah. Why, aren’t they people too? People have a right to know. Tell them all about Harry Potter or Twilight or RGV ki Aag.
• Making assumptions about people is a vital aspect to active participation. If you do not assume stuff, you got nothing. Say for example somebody says, ‘Our water coolers aren’t working since 1981 blah blah, India democratic blah blah Sonia Gandhi sucks ass blah blah Sachin’s god blah blah fix our coolers blah blah bhook hartal blah blah…’, a very logical surmise would be that the person involved is gay, or is studying Computer Science. State as much in a well thought out comment.
• Post links from your own blog, people need quality education. Also don't forget to call your blog a Bitsian venture, do the right kind of endorsement.
• Tell people about your problems, from nose bleeds to constipation. They’re very helpful. The world’s all good and shiny and filled with sparkly vampires anyway so that’s to be expected.
• Make the world a better place. Take it upon yourself to instruct people morally. Tell them how getting into BITS isn't anything compared to attaining inner peace or wearing khadi.

A certain Alok Singh goes into the nitty-gritty of things and helps you fight withdrawal here.